CALGARY - A new study says just over 1/3 of Canadians live too far away from a specialized hospital to get optimal treatment for a heart attack.
The University of Calgary research looked at how many Canadians live within an hour of a hospital that's equipped to open a blocked blood vessel to the heart.
More than 70 per cent of people in Ontario can access the treatment in that time, while some areas, such as Prince Edward Island and the three territories, don't have a single facility that performs the procedure.
Senior author Dr. William Ghali says the fact that 64 per cent of Canadians can access the treatment within an hour is pretty good considering our population.
He says some people might use the study to argue that treatment centres should be set up in more smaller hospitals to improve access.
But Ghali says that would be expensive and treatment outcomes likely wouldn't be as good as when the procedure is done in larger centres.
